recommendation we the foo food d drug administration but it happened today. the question was whether the morning after pill, an emergency contraceptive, should be available over the counter to girls 16 and under. today, the f.d.a. was ready to say yes but the president's secretary of health and human services said no. wyatt andrews has our story. >> reporter: for five years, plan b, the emergency contraception drug, has only been sold without a prescription to women 17 and older. the issue is should that be changed? and the drug made available with no prescription to younger girls. when the f.d.a. looked at safety studies, it said yes. but it was directly overruled by kathleen sebelluous, the secretary of health and human services. her denial stunned many public health proponents. >> i am flabbergasted. >> reporter: susan wood, a former f.d.a. official, says women need over-the-counter access because plan b prevents

pregnancy only if taken quickly. >> so having any kind of barrier means perhaps we wait a day. perhaps we wait a few days. and by then, the product no longer can help prevent unintended pregnancy. >> reporter: what made the denial so unusual was the level of public disagreement. secretary sebelluous said she was protecting teenaged girls, chef whom reached childed bearing age at 11 years old and the evidence, she said, did not show those who might use this medicine can understand the warning label. f.d.a. commissioner margaret hamburg directly contradicted that, citing studies that adolescent females understood the product was not for routine use at grubs pharmacy in washington, the pharmacist agreed the drug should not be available to younger teens saying they need ton plan b-'s side effects, starting with nausea. >> i do believe it should be something you should consult with eye health official. >> reporter: but plan b's

approval has always been tinged with politics. even though the drug prevents. white house officials say this was not a political decision, and president obama has said medicine should be based on science. but, scott, this this is a case where scientists at f.d.a. were reverse bide their politically appointed boss. >> pelley: the former penn state assistant football coach accused of sexually abusing young boys was arrested again today. anna werner reports jerry sandusky faces new charges after two more accusers came forward. anna. >> reporter: scott, tonight, jerry sandusky sits behind bars in this correctional facility here in center county, pennsylvania. his bail is set at $250,000. police arrested sandusky at his home shortly after 1:00 this afternoon.

authorities took him into custody after the pennsylvania attorney general filed 12 new charges against him, including nine felonies, in connection with two new alleged victims whom the attorney general calls victim 9 and victim 10. according to the grand jury report, victim 9, now 18, described a pattern of repeated sexual abuse, including rape, beginning when he was 11 or 12 years old, and continuing until december 2008. which would make him the most recent alleged victim thus far. he said many incidents occurred in the basement bedroom of sandusky's home and he testified that at least once he screamed for help, knowing that sandusky's wife was upstairs. but no one ever came to help him. victim 10 also described how he spent most of his time in sandusky's basement and said that sexual abuse dating back to 1997 occurred there and at a swimming pool on the penn state campus. law enforcement officials tell cbs news sandusky received no

advanced notice of the arrest, something his lawyer, joe amendola, today wanted to. >> if this is the way the case is going to be handled by the other side, we can do things to kind of make it miserable, too. >> reporter: sandusky's lawyer told us that he is trying to come up with that $250,000 bail, but even if he is able to post bail, scott, he'll be subject to strict conditions-- electronic monitoring, house arrest, and no unsupervised contact with minors. >> pelley: anne athank you very much. tonight we have a rare look inside the revolution in syria. since march, protesters have been trying to overthrow the 40-year dictatorship of the assad family. the u.n. estimates that 4,000 civilians have been killed. but we don't know much more because the assad government has banned independent reporting. but cbs news correspondent charissa ward managed to slip into syria with a camera.

tonight, she shows us how the rebels cope with casualties from the street battles that they fight with the syrian army. they cannot show their faces. they risk their lives to talk to us. >> reporter: as an opposition activist, abu ahmed spends a lot of time underground, in the basement of a building on the outskirts of damascus, he let us into a secret passage, carefully camouflaged in a corner. there are boxes stuffed with life-saving supplies. so they are stockpiling all different sorts of medical equipment here. we've got everything from penicillin to surgical gloves and perhaps most ominously, a skin stapler. these pictures, shot by opposition activists, show how day after day, syria's protesters are shot and beaten by president assad's security forces. we were taken to a makeshift field hospital upon. this doctor explained to us

going to a government-run hospital is too dangerous. "there have been many case where's injured people were arrested over even taken out operating rooms midsurgery," he said. "sometimes they kill the wounded." he with no way to verify his claim. none of the doctors who treat injured protesters can reveal their identities. in assad's syria saving lives can be a crime. "we just do what we can, he said." syria is a country of grieving family. this many told us his 21-year-old son was shot by security forces while attending a demonstration. despite the risks, he took his son to a government hospital. "they didn't even let us in," he told us. "they said they wouldn't take injured civilians." he said his son bled to death. "he was just a normal young man, very quiet, very obedient." ( crying ) he was very loved.

>> reporter: across the city, we saw signs of a different kind of suffering. syria's economy has been crippled by tough sanctions. basic necessities are scarce. people line up for cooking gas. so we've just had another blackout. now, the government has been keen to stress all along that here in damascus life goes on as normal, but certainly since i've been hereto last few days, electricity has been in and out. abu ahmed has no doubts about what would if the government discovered his stockpile. they would kill me, he said, simply. but he says that he is ready to die for his cause. he showed us a video on his cell phone of a man he says was shot in the heart by a sniper. >> two weeks ago. >> reporter: two weeks ago. his is the only face we can show you from syria. >> pelley: charissa joins us now. charisa, you were traveling alone in syria and spending a

good deal of time talking to people in the capital city damascus. i wonder, what is it like to live in damascus these days? >> reporter: i think it's almost schizophrenic, to be honest. you have pockets of people who are living in these bubbles of denial and pretending what is happening across the country is not going on. and then you have the majority of people who are just intensely frightened, and it's a fear that's ingrained deeply for the last 40 years. and that one man who i spoke to whose son was killed, whenever i would ask him anything even vaguely political his eyes would sort of shift back and forth as if he was looking to make sure who was listen of listening. >> pelley: thank you very much, charissa ward. the republican presidential candidates talked up their support for israel today at a meeting of the republican jewish coalition. front-runner newt gingrich promised to move the u.s. embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem. gingrich says that his role as house speak inert 1990s makes

him west prepared to be president. so we asked nancy cordes to find out what his former republican colleagues would say about those days. >> i pull the string. >> reporter: newt gingrich led house republicans out of the political wilderness in 1994, and into the majority for the first time in 40 years. so why do so many of those members disparage him today? >> he's too erratic. he's too self-centered. >> he has these visions of grandiost. >> i will have difficulty supporting him as president of the united states. >> reporter: the bad blood developed over his management style and his role in the government shutdowns of '95, and '96. republicans got the blame. president clinton got re-elected. >> i don't miss those days. >> reporter: ohio republican steve latourette says speaker gingrich was always in crise mode. >> we would meet in a room in the basement of the capitol still 2:00, 3:00 in the morning

tseemed like four or five times a week and it sauls seemed there was some emergency taneeded to be dealt with. >> reporter: republicans were also embarrassed by the 84 ethics charges filed against gingrich. after a lengthy investigation, he was reprimanded for one violation -- taking tax-deductible money to teach a politically-motivated college course. but the damage was done, and in 1997, a couple dozen republicans tried, unsuccessfully, to overthrow gingrich. >> i think even if you asked speaker gingrich, he would acknowledge that he's had some flaws. >> reporter: as of today, 50 members of congress have endorsed mitt romney, only six have endorsed gingrich. >> for a long time, i was his only endorsement. >> reporter: congressman joe barton of texas argues gingrich accomplished more than most more than speakers. a lot of your fellow republicans are coming out this week and saying that mr. gingrich was an erratic leader when he was here in congress. do you experience that? >> no, ma'am, i don't think he

was erratic. i think he was pragmatic. we did do the contract with america when he was speaker. we did balance the budget. we did reform welfare. i mean, he did a good job. >> reporter: after gingrich was pressured to give up his speakership in 1998, he called his detractors cannibals baud butt today he says they just weren't ready for his bold ideas and aggressive approach to reform. >> pelley: nancy, thank you. in chicago today, illinois governor rod blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption, including trying to sell the senate seat barack obama advocated when he became president. blagojevich is the second illinois governor in a row to be sent to prison. george ryan is serving six and a half years. also for corruption. there are new treatments for fighting breast cancer. florida a &m reverses the punishments in the hazing scandal. and remembering pearl harbor 70

years later. when the cbs evening news continues.

a&m a&m. >> pelley: in the battle against breast cancer, there's promising news tonight. dr. jon lapook has the results of two new studies involving targeted drug treatments. a&m a&m. >> did you see anybody you knew at the store? >> reporter: when 66-year-old deborah drake was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer in 2007, it had already spread to her

lungs. a&m then it went to her brain, and her doctor said she probably wouldn't survive. >> i wasn't as scared a&m as i was sad because i-- i love my life. i love my family. a&m and i thought i don't want to leave them soon. a&m. >> reporter: today's two drug studies offer people like drake new oppositions for fighting a&m advanced breast cancer. unlike traditional chemotherapy these drugs target cancer cells while leaving normal ones alone. >> the two findings will change practice that will affect close to 80% of our patients with metastatic breast cancer. that's huge news on its own. >> reporter: one treatment combined arosin, which a&m blocked estrogen, with affintor, which attacks the inside of cancer cells. a&m women receiving both

aromasin and afinitor, went about four months longer wot their cancer progressing as opposed to those a&m with just one. it works for women with specific types of breast cancer. >> these patients feel better. these patients have fewer side effects. these patients can carry on normal lives. >> reporter: and there's likely to be more discoveries ahead. last month, we visited dr. beselga's lab, where scientists used the largest library of tumors to discover cells that can be attacked by new drugs. the second trial combines chemo therapy with new drugs specifically targeting the surface of breast cancer cells. the cancer was held in check for additional six months. both need the approval of the f.d.a. >> pelley: jon, thank you very much. for morthis story go to our partner in health news webmd.com and search "breast cancer." a long legal battle ended day taid when the philadelphia district attorney said he will

no longer seek the death penalty against abu-jamal. instead the former black panther will spend the rest of his life in a&m prison for murdering a list. he claimed he was the a&m victim of a racist legal system but despite a series of appeals, his conviction was upheld. he was the commanding officer of the 4077 mash. still to come, remembering tv's colonel potter. a&m a&m

>> pelley: florida a&m has reversed the punishments handed out after the suspected hazing death last month of a member of the marching band. the band's direct director, who had been fired is now on administrative leave and four expelled students are back on campus. the state police asked the school to stop disciplinary action until the police investigation is complete. young harry bratsberg of muskeegan, michigan, was a talented high school debater. he figured he'd become a lawyer but then caught the acting bug and changed his career and his name. harry morgan, best known as colonel sherman t. potter on "m *a +s *h," died today. years before "m *a +s *h," mothr an made a name for himself as a talented character actor. here it was trace ne"inherit the wind." >> how do you show cause

tomorrow morning at 10:00. >> reporter: on television, morgue an played officer bill gannon on "dragnet" and then came a memorable guest shot as a crazy general on "m *a +s *h." >> not now, marjorie. i'm inspecting the troops! >> pelley: that performance led to a permanent role on "m *a +s *h" as the horse-loving colonel potter. >> sorry about that, sir. >> that's disgusting. >> son, to me, that's a tip-toe through the tulips. ♪ ♪. >> pelley: harry morgan was 96. remembering a day of infamy. one of the last pearl harbor veterans tells his story next.

>> pelley: i 70 years ago today that japan attacked pearl harbor. the anniversary was observed near the memorial to the uss"arizona" one of 12 ships sunk on that day of infamy. about 120 survivors attended. there aren't many more survivors these days but david mart i think found one, a former sailor, a retired stagehand. now 89, mahoney still sees clearly the day that changed the nation. >> i still see the planes. i still see everything.

and to see those bodies, that-- that's no good. >> reporter: listen closely to tom mahoney. he was just a 19-year-old safely on december 7, 1941. today he's a week shy of his 90th birthday, one of an estimated 2,000 survivors still able to tell the story. >> my ship was an inferno, four decks all the way up to the boat deck were on fire. >> reporter: that's mahone's ship before the attack occurred. this famous photo shows a japanese bomber diving into the theis." >> he plunged into our boat deck from 10,000 feet. >> reporter: then came a 500-pound bomb. >> and they said all hands stand by to abandon ship, but us, sailors, kids we were, we ignored them and we stayed at our fire stations. >> reporter: how many people did you lose aboard the "curtis"

that day. >> we lost 29 dead, 59 wounded, and two missing. >> reporter: and that was just the first day of a war which tom mahoney, except for one 10-day leave, fought every day of and recorded in his diaries. fiji. pango-pango. christmas island. wake island. >> coregador. >> reporter: you were all over the south pacific. he transferred to another ship which fought its way north to the japanese islands. of the 15 shims of his squad, only his and two others were still in action when the atom bomb fell on i had roam ma. for the first time the crew felt they would survive the war. >> we would just sit there and cry like babies, and i mean, we balled. >> reporter: the ship, with tom mahoney still aboard, escorted the battleship

"missouri" into tokyo bay for the surrender ceremony. there are only a few more diary entries after that. december 14, 1947. >> right. >> reporter: the war is over. >> my mind is finally settled. >> reporter: what does that say? >> arrived in the states. >> reporter: he married claire right after the war and they've been affect for 65 years, but every december, the nightmares come back. >> if you saw what i saw at pearl harb, on friends mutilated and nothing but ashes, it stays with you. >> reporter: pearl harbor will always stay in the history books, but with the passing of tom mahoney's generation, he will no locker be part of our living history. david martin, union city, new jersey. >> pelley: today the pearl harbor survivors association announced it's disbanding. there aren't enough members left to keep it going. that's the cbs evening new toni.

for all of us at cbs news all around the . this is 9news now. heavy rains and the risk of flooding have the weather department declaring this a severe weather day. latest on how the rain is piling up. >> here is the deal, we've already had as much as inches of rain. now the heaviest rain we've seen so far today is moving into the metro area. let's start with radar because we have a lot of moisture left to go before the system pulls away. notice the back side. that is turning into snow in cumberland. it's going to turn to snow in hagerstown and frederick. the cold air is on the way, but in the meantime we're much more concerned of the heavy rain. look at the yellow and red

showing up. that is incredible energy, incredible moisture. rainfall rates 1-2 inches an hour. heavy rain in hagerstown, back towards winchester and very heavy rain on the east side of 95 from fredericksburg over to maryland. these haven't changed. flooding is going on. it's occurring. do not cross a street by car or by foot if it is flooded. it's just simply not worth it. we replaced those with some winter weather advisories later on tonight. temperature now at 49 downtown. 37 in hagerstown but 28 in oakland and 37 in cumberland. we'll come back and show you be the winter weather advisories -- show you the winter weather advisories and show you where the changes will occur. if you have any flooding or significant snowfall in your neighborhood tonight, jump on the web and click on weather. submit to us your storm report. former